Aurelia screamed without sound.
The valley of light shattered.
The hum of universal resonance fractured into something sharp metallic wrong.
Her eyes flew open.
Cold stone pressed against her palms.
The scent of iron flooded her lungs.
Blood.
Not imagined.
Real.
The ritual chamber still glowed faintly beneath the suspended Blood Moon pouring through the ceiling aperture. Ancient runes carved into the floor burned in fading silver.
Her mark.
The White Luna sigil at her throat pulsed violently.
"Aurelia."
Lucien's voice cut through the ringing in her ears.
Firm. Controlled. But underneath it.
Fear.
She inhaled sharply. The vision still clung to her bones. The valley. The gathering. The resonance. The future where wolves stood without hierarchy.
It hadn't felt like a dream.
It felt like memory.
Her body trembled.
Lucien knelt in front of her, hands hovering near her shoulders but not touching. He had learned. He always waited for permission.
"You were gone," he said quietly.
"Not unconscious. Gone."
Across the chamber, Darius paced like a caged predator, claws partially extended, golden eyes glowing with unstable heat.
Alaric stood near the entrance, posture regal even in shadow, gaze calculating.
Cassian leaned against a stone pillar, observant. Too observant.
Aurelia pushed herself upright.
"I saw something."
Darius stopped pacing.
"What?" His voice was sharp. Demanding.
Lucien shot him a warning look.
Aurelia ignored both.
"The world after this."
Silence fell heavy.
Alaric stepped closer. "Define after."
"After the packs fracture," she replied steadily. "After the Council falls."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Cassian straightened slightly.
"The High Council is already moving," he said calmly. "Your gathering is no longer rumor. It is threat."
Lucien's jaw tightened. "We fortified the borders."
Darius let out a dark laugh. "Borders mean nothing to cowards who hide behind decrees."
Aurelia's mark pulsed again.
Pain lanced through her spine.
Lucien caught her as she staggered but his grip was careful. Protective, not possessive.
"What did it cost you?" he asked softly.
She met his eyes.
"I don't know yet."
That was the truth.
The vision had felt like alignment like destiny unfolding.
But destiny always demanded payment.
Alaric moved to the center of the chamber where dried ritual blood marked ancient symbols.
"The Blood Moon amplified your lineage," he said evenly. "Visions under Sovereign awakening are never symbolic. They are conditional."
Darius growled. "Speak plainly."
Alaric's gaze sharpened.
"It means the future she saw is possible."
Aurelia's pulse steadied.
Possible.
Not guaranteed.
Cassian's voice slipped in smoothly.
"And if the Council understands that?"
Silence answered him.
Lucien's expression hardened.
"They will move to eliminate her before the symbol becomes irreversible."
Darius's claws sank into stone.
"Let them try."
Aurelia turned toward him.
"You don't understand."
His eyes snapped to hers.
"Then explain."
"The vision wasn't about dominance. It was about resonance."
He frowned.
She stepped toward him despite Lucien's subtle tension.
"You can't conquer that."
Something flickered in Darius's gaze.
Jealousy.
Not romantic.
Instinctual.
"You left," he said suddenly.
The room stilled.
"You were standing here," he continued, voice rougher now. "But I couldn't feel you. The bond thinned."
Lucien's eyes darkened slightly.
Alaric watched carefully.
Cassian absorbed everything.
Aurelia understood.
When she entered the vision, she hadn't just shifted mentally.
Her energy had expanded beyond the mate bonds.
Beyond territorial ties.
Darius had felt it as loss.
"You felt displaced," she said calmly.
"I felt rejected."
The admission was raw. Dangerous.
Lucien's shoulders squared subtly.
Alaric's gaze narrowed.
Cassian said nothing.
Aurelia stepped closer until Darius had to look down at her.
"I do not exist to anchor your control," she said evenly. "If I rise, you rise by choice. Not by claim."
His breathing grew heavier.
For a second, it looked like he might snap.
Then something else happened.
His eyes lowered.
Not submission.
Not fully.
But restraint.
The first crack in obsession.
Alaric broke the tension.
"We don't have time for internal fractures."
As if summoned by his words, a sharp vibration pulsed through the chamber floor.
Cassian moved instantly.
"That wasn't structural."
Lucien was already on his feet.
Darius bared his teeth.
Another vibration.
Closer.
Alaric's voice shifted from measured to command.
"They've breached the outer barrier."
Lucien swore under his breath.
"Impossible."
Cassian's expression sharpened.
"Not impossible. Authorized."
Everyone looked at him.
"Only Council seals override Sovereign territory wards," he finished quietly.
Aurelia felt cold clarity settle over her.
"They didn't come to negotiate."
The chamber doors exploded inward.
Silver-tipped spears flew first.
Lucien shifted mid-air, massive wolf intercepting two projectiles with his shoulder.
Darius roared, shifting fully, smashing into the first armored assassin before the man's boots touched ground.
Alaric drew an ancient blade from beneath his coat steel etched with royal sigils.
Cassian didn't shift.
He moved like strategy incarnate disarming, redirecting, breaking formation.
More figures flooded in.
Council sigils burned on their armor.
Execution unit.
Aurelia didn't retreat.
Her mark ignited.
White light erupted from her skin, slamming into the floor with a shockwave that forced the second wave of assassins backward.
The chamber trembled.
Lucien's wolf growled beside her.
Darius tore through an attacker with brutal efficiency.
Alaric stood between her and the entrance, blade steady.
Cassian moved toward the rear exit.
"They expected you weakened post-ritual," he called. "They miscalculated."
An assassin lunged directly for Aurelia.
She didn't move.
The spear stopped inches from her throat—frozen mid-air.
The attacker's arm began to shake.
The ground beneath him cracked.
"You will not raise a weapon against a Sovereign Luna," she said quietly.
The force that followed wasn't explosive.
It was crushing.
The man collapsed to his knees, armor buckling.
Silence fell except for labored breathing.
The surviving assassins hesitated.
Lucien stepped forward in wolf form.
Darius stood blood-streaked, eyes blazing.
Alaric lifted his blade.
Cassian's voice was ice.
"You failed."
The remaining Council soldiers retreated.
Not fleeing in chaos.
With discipline.
Which meant this was test strike.
Not full assault.
When the chamber doors slammed shut again, the air felt heavier.
Lucien shifted back, blood running down his arm.
"You're injured."
"Superficial."
Darius wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"They dared."
Alaric sheathed his blade slowly.
"This was declaration."
Cassian met Aurelia's gaze.
"They will move publicly next."
Aurelia's heart beat steady now.
The vision returned to her mind.
The valley.
The gathering.
The world without tyrant Alphas.
It wasn't distant.
It was approaching.
"They want to make an example of me," she said.
"Yes," Alaric confirmed.
Lucien stepped beside her.
"Then we make them regret it."
Darius's lips curled into a dark smile.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
Cassian tilted his head slightly.
"War isn't won with rage."
"It isn't won with hesitation either," Lucien replied coldly.
Tension between them flickered.
Aurelia lifted her chin.
"No."
They all looked at her.
"This is not their war."
The chamber lights dimmed as the Blood Moon began to descend.
Her mark glowed brighter.
"This is a reckoning."
Silence followed.
The High Council had drawn first blood.
But they had underestimated one thing.
Aurelia was no longer a rejected Luna.
She was Sovereign awakening.
And now.
The gathering would not just be alliance.
It would be uprising.